Abandoned Quarry
Camille Corot (1796 - 1875), c. 1850
oil on paper on canvas, 29 cm x 43 cm
Credits: The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Corot here painted an unremarkable rock mass and brushwood with deft strokes of the brush. It is a fine example of the new approach to landscape painting that gained ground in the course of the 19th century.
Corot wanted to render nature as it appeared at a given moment of the day. This was a radical departure from his predecessors, who depicted idealized and highly refined landscapes. With his innovative notions he unleashed a veritable artistic revolution in painting.
In the beginning Corot was sharply criticized. But the celebrated French writer and critic Charles Baudelaire came to his defence. He argued, ‘... that in general what is “completed” is not “finished” and that a thing “finished” in detail may well lack the unity of a “completed” thing ... from all of which it follows that M. Corot paints like the great masters.’
- Object number
- hwm0062
- Dimensions
- 29 cm x 43 cm, 54.7 cm x 68.5 cm, 9.5 cm
- Provenance
- Possibly auction Paris, Hôtel Drouot (Trente quatre Tableaux par Alexandre Couder et Tableaux Modernes), lot 45 (Le Ravin), 8 May 1875; acquired possibly from Durand-Ruel, Paris by Hendrik Willem Mesdag, The Hague, before 1888; Collection Museum Mesdag donated by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten to the State of the Netherlands, 14 May 1903; Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag, The Hague, from 1 August 1903; in trust of the Mauritshuis, The Hague, between 1934 and 1990; in trust of the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, from 1 April 1990; Museum Mesdag, in trust of the Van Gogh Museum Foundation, Amsterdam, from 1 July 1994, under the name of De Mesdag Collectie from 2011.
- artist
- Camille Corot
- Credits
- The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Palazzo dei Diamanti, Gustave Courbet and Nature, 22 September 2018-6 January 2019
Paris, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Les Hollandais à Paris. 1789-1914. Van Gogh-Van Dongen-Mondrian, 6 February-13 May 2018
The Hague, De Mesdag Collectie, Nederlanders in Barbizon, 27 October 2017-7 January 2018
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh, Rousseau, Corot: in het bos, 7 July-10 September 2017
The Hague, De Mesdag Collectie, Natuur in beeld. Fotografie ontmoet schilderkunst in de 19de eeuw, 5 March-5 June 2016
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, De romantiek van de Haagse School, 4 April-6 September 2015
Houston, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, In the forest of Fontainebleau : painters and photographers form Corot to Monet, 13 July-19 October 2008
Washington, National Gallery of Art, In the forest of Fontainebleau : painters and photographers form Corot to Monet, 2 March-8 June 2008
Paris, Musée d'Orsay, La forêt de Fontainebleau : un atelier grandeur nature, 6 March-13 May 2007
Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Corot : naturaleza, emoción, recuerdo, 7 June-11 September 2005
Palazzo dei Diamanti, Corot : naturaleza, emoción, recuerdo
Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Corot : natura, emozione, ricordo, 7 June-11 September 2005
Palazzo dei Diamanti, Corot : natura, emozione, ricordo
Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts (Lyon), L'école de Barbizon : peindre en plein air avant l'impressionnisme, 22 June-9 September 2002
Barnes, Julian, Courbet e la natura, Ferrara, 2018, p. 188
Jonkman, Mayken, Dijk, Maite van, Bakker, Nienke, Nederlanders in Parijs 1789-1914, Bussum, 2017, p. 111-112
Jonkman, Mayken, Dijk, Maite van, Bakker, Nienke, The Dutch in Paris 1789-1914, Bussum, 2017, p. 111-112
Jonkman, Mayken, Dijk, Maite van, Bakker, Nienke, Les Hollandais à Paris 1789-1914, Paris, 2017, p. 111-112
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., De Mesdag Collectie, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 40
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., The Mesdag Collection, Amsterdam, 2011, p.39-40
Jones, Kimberly A., Kelly, Simon, Kennel, S., Aurisch, Helga K., In the forest of Fontainebleau : painters and photographers from Corot to Monet, Washington, 2008, p. 94
Pomarède, Vincent, Corot : natura, emozione, ricordo, Ferrara, 2005, p. 150, 159
Clarke, Michael, Corot : naturaleza, emoción, recuerdo, Madrid, 2005, p. 162, 170
L'école de Barbizon : peindre en plein air avant l'impressionnisme, Lyon ; Paris, 2002, p. 168, 283
Vergeest, Aukje, The French collection : nineteenth-century French paintings in Dutch public collections, Amsterdam, 2000, p. 97
Bodt, Saskia de, Leeman, Fred, Leeuw, Ronald de, Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : catalogue of paintings and drawings, Zwolle, 1996, p. 60, 131-132